Start of soccer season

We finally agreed to let A. play a little soccer this season. We had been holding out just for our own sake of not having to commit to another team. But she's been begging and she finally got her chance.



She loved it and if I'm being honest she did pretty good out there most the time. She can really handle the ball better than the other kids when they first started and she has a really strong kick. And at her age, it's all about fun and you can just sit back and enjoy the kids having fun.

Normally it would be me and the the three youngest since Hubs and Z. always were at baseball. So naturally a lot of time was spent at the park area as well. This provided lots of opportunity to get pictures of my monkeys hanging out.

My silly girl hanging upside down.

She's showing off her missing front tooth to me.

My big boy just perched up high where he can see everything going on.

Under the Big Top Gymnastics "meet"

K. begged to be allowed to do gymnastics. So we finally started her in it about 3 months ago. She loves it and seems to be taking to it pretty well. She jumps around enough and is always dangling from monkey bars so I guess it's right up her alley. They had an exhibition show for the families to come watch what the girls have learned in gymnastics. They called it a gymnastics meet but there was no scoring and no pressure. It's main purpose was to get these girls used to performing in front of people. K. is not shy so I didn't think it would be much of a problem but normally if any of my kids are put in front of a crowd they just stand there. So it was any one's guess how this would turn out.

The theme was "Under the Big Top" and they had the girls come out with big red clown noses on. K. did not like this and to me she looked like she wanted to crawl under a rock. Can't say I really blame her much there. She took that silly nose off as fast as she could.


She went on to do some "stuff" on the floor. Don't know what that move is technically called, backbreaker maybe, so I'm just saying "stuff".

I told her I could do this also but that I just didn't feel like showing her right then. Don't know if she bought it or not but at one time in my life I could do this.

She went on to the trampoline, the vault and the bars.


Then she went on to the balance beam. She did pretty good on that, I was impressed. I did not tell her I could do that.


I wasn't as cool as some of the other parents in that I didn't bring her flowers at the end of the meet. (Isn't that only for ballerina's anyway). But I did get a few extra pictures of K. posing on the beam for me. So as far as I'm concerned it's all good.

Sharks Soccer Season Synopsis

OK, now that you've read the title of my post, time to uncurl your tongue and wipe off your face. Hoss played fall soccer again this year, along with fall baseball. Whew was it hard to accommodate everything this season. It was the first time we have ever had a lot of games conflict with each other. But we made the best of it and did lots of running around. There were some games that conflicted where we had to take turns seeing which game we would have to miss.

Then there were those Saturdays that Hoss and I loved most of all (can you detect just a hint of sarcasm). We would go to K's. entire soccer game, then head over for the Sharks game. Hoss would have to play the entire first half then before he had a chance to catch his breath I was dragging him to the parking lot. Once we reached the car, I proceeded to try and strip down one very sweaty little boy and get him into his baseball uniform. Not an easy feat even when you take away the stinky sweaty boy part. Hoss always wanted privacy to change and it didn't always happen in the busy parking lot. So he would be struggling to get his shin guards off then his slide pants on. All while ducking as low as he could between the seats. (I swear I had flashbacks of doing the same thing in the front seat of my mom's car while I struggled to get into my gymnastics leotard. But that was many hours of therapy ago so there's no need to revisit that now) Then he would get the rest of his baseball uniform on and we would be off. I never got any pictures of these Saturday struggles since I was usually to busy swearing I'd never do this again to take any.

But occasionally the stars would line up just right and we would have no overlapping games. The core group of boys have gotten so much better and the new boys picked up alot along the way. Hoss is still the slowest runner out there and although I know nothing about soccer I'm told he is a decent player. I'll take their words for it. It's still just nothing but fun for the boys and a chance to be with their friends to hang out. But their skill level is noticeably improving so you have to cheer them on.

The favorite part of soccer for Hoss (besides the free coke at the end)is still being able to see his friend E. But we did finally decide that he needs to pick one sport come spring. So we will see what he picks baseball or soccer, until then I am just going to enjoy the off season.

The Road to Omaha

We went to Omaha this summer with my son's baseball team. None of us had ever been and we were going up to play in the College World Series tournament they had going on. So we packed up our van and Grandmama and Pappy's truck and headed out. Naturally I got window paint for both vechiles so that everyone from Texas to Nebraska knew where we were going and why we were going there. All I can say is that it's much easier to put that paint on then it is to take it off. But it was still fun for the kids to have it on the cars. And it was amazing to see how many people wished us luck going up.

Our intentions were to play games and be done by 4 every afternoon in order to go catch some of the college games that were being played at Rosenblatt Stadium. It never really worked out for our group though. Some of the other players on the team made it to some games but by the time we would get back to hotel the rest of us were just worn out. So we would spend lots of time in the hotel indoor pool. We would then go out in groups of all sizes and walk around downtown Omaha until we found a place to eat at. Whichever place could fit us first is where we ended up. Then we would head back to the hotel and hang out with everyone there in the lobby. In the picture below, I think all 8 of the players with us at dinner that night somehow crammed themselves into that old English telephone booth. Very funny to watch them coordinate that one.


It just so happened we were staying at the same hotel as the UCLA team. They eventually were one of the teams that made it to the finals with USC. It didn't take long for our Viper boys to discover what floor the UCLA team was staying on and that is where they would run off to. That team was so patient with our boys and really made it fun for them. We actually went to Rosenblatt stadium one afternoon after our game and got some pictures of the team there.



Then we went inside only to find out that UCLA was practicing at the time. So we sat down and watched them. Amazing to see how much they can get done in a short practice time. Our boys caught the eyes of some of the players practicing and before we knew it they were passing out NCAA College World Series baseballs to our boys and started autographing them. I don't know who had more fun, them or our boys. But it was just another cool thing for these players to do for our boys.

After the practice was over we went to a local spot which is legendary for it's burgers and ice cream.

All I can say is WOW, that was a huge hamburger and no one was able to finish them, not even the dads. Grandmama thought she would get an ice cream cone to go along with her malt she shared with Pappy. I don't know where she had the room to put it, but she ate it. All 10 inches of it!! And I am not kidding, I've never seen such a huge ice cream as that before. But it was she said and just like the Frosty restaurant in Alamogordo that our grandparents owned for years.


Our boys went up to play baseball and we weren't sure how they would do competing against all these other teams from around the country. They didn't do to bad at all and won enough games to put us in the middle bracket. We were soon out of the tournament and done. But we were so proud of how all those boys did playing their hearts out. So we packed up and headed back home and got ready for the AAYBA World Series Tournament held in Flower Mound a week later. No rest for the weary or so we thought, we ended up getting rained out of a lot of that so I am extra glad that they played so well in Omaha. It was a fun trip and we have some great memories.

At the ballpark with Big Z

It's been a while since I've been at Z.'s game. With all the other kids and the games they have, it's been a real juggling act getting everyone where they need to go. But I did finally get to one of Zach's game and remembered my camera. He was pitching that day so I got a few shots of him on the mound and then the rest that I got were of him at 3rd base.

Watching to see what his pitch will be.



He gets set.


Winds Up.


And Releases


I was even able to catch him getting a grounder down the 3rd base line before he threw to first. I can't remember if it was an out or not but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.


Not a bad day for Zach at the ballfield or me and my camera. Always fun to get some good action shots of him.

Soccer Saturday Happenings

It's soccer season right now. And I realized that I do not have any pictures of Michael playing soccer. I pulled out the telephoto zoom lens and went to the game. Now can I just say that my mom went with me and that it was beyond windy. I love my mom but I hate the wind. There now you know how I really feel. Anyways, I got some great pictures of Michael looking like he knows what he's doing.


He played extra hard on Saturday and did a really good job. And when I told him so he commented to me "Yeah, I wanted you to get some really good pictures of me so I tried really hard." Have to love that and yes I did get some really great pictures also.

Now Dad and Z. were off at a baseball tournament on a different windy hill so it was just me, mom and the girls watching the game. Well okay, the girls didn't watch a bit of it. Instead they played with their friends and found some interesting ways to keep themselves entertained.

And once they got tired of passing the ball between the tunnel of legs well they moved on but I'm not sure exactly what it was they were doing.

End of Season party

We had Z.'s end of season party yesterday. Lots of boating, inner tubing, swimming and eating. The kids all had a great time and so did the parents. We are very fortunate to have a team where the parents all like each other enough to want to spend time at these parties as well as the kids. The kids all like each other and are on a constant rotating basis of sleepovers at other players houses. Every house seems to have at least one piece of clothing that belongs to another player. So now all the parents just ask if they have clothes as their house instead of going home to pack a bag. Kind of convenient in one way and difficult to keep up with at the same time.

The team ended up losing more games than winning this year. But they somehow managed to come in 3rd place in AAYBA Little League World Series for their division. So that was a good way to end the year. So now things will settle down a bit for the next month and we can enjoy some more summer for a while longer.

S-P-A-N-K-E-D

We spent this past weekend in the lovely town of Ardmore,OK. Where the sun shines brightly and winds, well they blow...and they blow big time. No really, it was so darn windy. Why were we there? An out of town baseball tournament for Z. We decided that since we had a game Friday night, two on Saturday and one on Sunday to make it a weekend with the whole family.

We and the other players families all rented cabins and planned on a long and busy weekend. We get there Friday night ready for our first game. We went into this tournament knowing our team stinks compared to a lot of the teams that would be there. But we also had the bad luck of the draw. Our first team to play against was in what is called a major classification. It's the best there is when it comes to little league and in fact just returned from Florida where they competed and placed 5th in the nation. We did not realize this until we got to the game. Just to share our pain with you we only played about 45 minutes of the 90 minutes allowed. They called the game when we reached the mercy rule of being ahead of a team at any time by 20. Not only that, we only batted the first 6 players in our lineup, yep, that's right, 3 up 3 down each inning. We were glad to provide them with some batting practice. It stunk! But the other team was amazing.

Saturday we were hopeful for a better game. Z. was having a good game with his pitching when his worst fear was realized. He threw a ball and it ended up hitting the batter in the head. The batter ran to first to take his base and said he was okay. But then the first base coach noticed all the blood dripping down from his helmet. So they stopped the game to check him out. Turns out he was bleeding from his ear and at first they thought if was from inside the inner ear. Instead it turns out he had a defective helmet which cut int the cartilage of his ear. He was deemed okay by everyone and continued to finish his turn around the bases. ( I saw him the next day where he proudly showed me his war wound) We played better but still lost.

Second game was pretty similar but without the blood. So we finished up early and went back to the cabins to enjoy our down time. We had a cookout with everyone where pretty much everything had to be bolted down or it would blow away. Lots of playing around with lots of 10 year old boys and siblings was going on. And us parents, well we were busy supervising...well okay I admit it not much supervising going on. But we did get lots of talking done, and a little bit of cow tipping. Just kidding! No talking involved, it would have alerted the cows we were there. Then we all went back to sleep in our cabins with some of the biggest spiders ever seen.

Sunday's game was good, we had them and our boys were playing well. But a few bad calls by refs and some good hits by the other team and well we were packing it up and heading home.

All in all, we were S-P-A-N-K-E-D this weekend in baseball. But the boys enjoyed themselves and the parents enjoyed themselves. And now I'm home and trying to wash out half the state of OK. out of my laundry. There is sand everywhere but at least I'm not out in it anymore.

It's that time again...baseball season

Baseball season has started up for us again. We now officially have three kids we have to shuttle back and forth to practices and games. So for my friends that I see on a regular basis, I'll see you around June sometime. But contrary to what you may think, I love it. It's fun to watch the kids as they grow and get better at sports. You can really see a difference in them from season to season.

This past weekend we watched my oldest son Z. play in a weekend tournament. He is with a new team this spring. And we decided on this team not for their winning records (which they didn't really have) but for the coaches and parents of the other boys out there playing. We are really enjoying being on this new team. Since we've joined them, the boys have finally started to click and they are finally playing pretty good. They finally finished a tournament and got a bit of hardware (ie. trophies, medals, rings) to show for it. They didn't win this tournament so they didn't get the championship rings (which I'm still laughing over) but they were all so excited to have done so well. Hoss my youngest son is now the official bat boy for this team and even he received a medal. Talk about an excited 6 yr old.

So if you start to hear more and more talk about baseball than you really want to, I'm sorry. But that's pretty much all I'm going to be doing for the next 3 months so I won't have much else to talk about.

So pull up a chair, grab some sunflower seeds and start spitting, it's baseball season.

jWell Crud!

We had a Tech watching party at my house tonight, and Tech lost. That was the bad news. The good news is that we all had a lot of fun, and I have reaquainted myself with Capt, Morgan. I have thourourgly enjoyed him tonight. I hope I enjoy him in the morning....but not likely. But it was a fun party at my house anyways!!!!

Over the fence

Z. was a guest player for another select baseball team this weekend. They were in need of players who could hit the ball well for a tournament they entered. They happened to see him at batting practice last week and invited him to play. So Hubs said yes, even though I was glad to finally have a baseball free weekend. Then Hubs decided that I should get to take him on my own so I could watch him play on Saturday. The fact that it was below freezing and that we had to leave the house by 6 am just to get to FT Worth in time for his game wasn't the reason ( or so he claims ). So I went and froze along with all the other players and parents. They didn't do so bad the first game and won it. They fell apart the second game and got spanked big time.

But Sunday was a new day and a warmer day. So we all went down to watch him play. Z. was having a good game. He got up to bat and got on base each time. But at his last bat he hit a foul ball over the left field fence, but since it was obviously a foul he had to bat again. So at a 3-2 count, he was able to straighten it out a bit and knocked another one out over the fence again over left field. It went over the fence and landed in the grassy median of an four land road (very lucky it didn't hit a car). So he finished his run around the bases only to be greeted by all his teammates who did their best to carry him off the field. He was psyched. He was responsible for three of the four runs yesterday. So even though their team lost 5-4 it was a good game for him.

Nothing like a home run to bring the spirits of everyone up.